The St. Johns herald., 1887-05-12
From a force of habit or nature m

railroads are prone to grab things which law and equity scarcely jus tifes in their taking or having. The
 case of Guilford Miller, who filed
 upon piece of land i'll Washing
 ton Territory claimed by the North
 ern Pacific Railroad as indemnity
 for other land which came within
 their grant, is now lodged in the h.
 terior Department, where it will be 1 disposed of probably in q few days
 ill favor of the settler, upon a letter
 written to Secretary Lamar by the
 President who has decided the set tier must be protected. After ap- pealing to the Department of the
 Interior, Secretary Lamar referred
 the matter to the Department of Justice, and General Jenk decided
 Miller must vacate the land. The
 President thinks different, however,
 as appears in his letter to the Sec
 retary of the Interior, from which
 we make the following extracts:
 "The legal points in this contro-
 versy turned upon the validity and
 effect of the withdrawal and reser-
 vation of this land and the contin-
 uance thereof. The Attorney Gen eral is of the opinion that such withdrawal and reservation were at
 all times effectual, and that they
 operated to prevent Miller from ac
 quiring any interest in or right to
 the land claimed by him.
 "With this interpretation of the
 law, and the former orders and ac-
 ton of the Interior Department, it
 will be seen that their effect has
 been the withdrawal and reserva-
 ton since 1872 of thousands, if. not
 millions, of acres of the lands from
 the operation of the land laws of the United States, thus placing
 them beyond the reach of our cit
 zens, desiring under such laws to
 settle and make homes upon the
 same, and that this has been done
 for the benefit of railroad com
 pany having no fixed, certain or de-
 finite interests in such lands. In
 this manner the benefcent policy
 and intention of the Government
 in relation to the public domain
 have for all these yea s, to that ex [ tent, been thwarted. There seems to be no evidence presented show ing how much, if any, of this vast
 tract is necessary for the fulfilment of the grant to the railroad com pany, nor does there appear to be l any limitation of the time within
 which this fact should be made , known and the corporation obliged
 to make its selection. After lapse , of fifteen years this large body of the public domain is still held ill reserve to the exclusion of settlers, for the convenience of a corpora
 tion beneficiary of the Government and awaiting it's selection, though it is entirely certain that much of this reserved land can never be hon. estly claimed by said corporation. ! "Such condition of the public lands should no longer continue. So far as it is the result of execu- r tive rules and methods these should be abandoned, and so far as it is a , consequent of inprovident laws
 these should be repealed or amend
 ed. Our public domain is our na- , tional wealth, the earnest of our : growth and the heritage of our peo- , pie. In the case under considera- tion, 1 assume that there is an abun- dance of land within the area which 5 has been reserved for indemnity, in
 which no citizen or settler has a , legal or equitable interest for all } purposes of such indemnifcation l to this railroad company, if its l grant has not already been satisfied. } I understand, too, that selections made by such corporation are not | complete and effectual until the same have been approved by the ? Secretary of the Interior, or unless } they are made in the words of the
 statute under his direction
 3 "You have thus far taken no ac-